


Bitter memories of a too long life

by Niahara_Erskine



Series: The Tale of a Forge Maiden [1]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Gen, RP character, RP character development, am working on it, for my tumblr page, not much so far except her general history
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-07
Updated: 2014-02-07
Packaged: 2018-01-11 12:05:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1172859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Niahara_Erskine/pseuds/Niahara_Erskine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Former forge maiden of the lost Nan Elmoth, Iúleth Naeriel spent most of the years of the first age dedicated to her craft in her homeland. When the War of Wrath brought ruin upon Beleriand and implicitly Nan Elmoth, she found herself bereft of kin and home.</p><p>This is the story of an original character.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Age

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, everyone! Lately I've been playing Lotro a lot and my in-game character's history kept nagging to be written. As a result I started typing and this came up along with a tumblr RP page ( you can find me at maidenofnanelmoth(.)tumblr(.)com if you wanna say hi ). I'd love to hear some comments, seeing as it's been an awful long time since I've read the Silmarillion and I'm not sure if I have all my fact right.

Iúleth Naeriel was born ninety years before the Sun set on its first voyage across the sky. As the daughter of an accomplished master smith, she knew from childhood which path she would take once she would be able to choose her craft. Showing an uncanny talent and the drive to strive for perfection, she was taken as an apprentice by Eöl Moriquendi once she became of age. It was during her apprentice years that she honed her talent and was eventually allowed to forge weapons from the black metal Galvorn. Her first item was a sword, Mornith, that would rarely leave her side in the Ages to come.

As a member of the envoys from Nan Elmoth to Doriath, she met Oropher and later a very young Thranduil. It was there, in the Hidden Kingdom that she first heard of the kinslaying at the Alqualondë and the burning of the ships. These events put the foundation for her future distrust when it came to dealings with the Noldor. 

When Aredhel Ar-Feiniel became lady of Nan Elmoth, Naeriel was unsure, feeling a foreboding of bad things to come. Still, she shook it aside and turned her attention to her craft. By then she was already considered a master smith and was seen in the forge from sunrise to sunset. Her hands crafted jewels of unfathomable beauty and weapons that held few rivals. With one of these jewels, a necklace given as a gift to the newly born Maeglin, she broke the ice between her and Aredhel, albeit only for a short time.

Soon disaster followed. Aredhel took Maeglin and left Nan Elmoth for Gondolin with her husband following after her. Fearing for the safety of the one who taught her almost all she knew about her craft and whom she considered a second father, Naeriel set after him in secret. She arrived two days after Eöl only to be captured by Glorfindel and brought in front of Turgon. It was there she learned that Maeglin had betrayed his father, Aredhel had died and Eöl had been slain by the Noldor. Faced with a choice between imprisonment in a cell or freedom anywhere in Gondolin, but not further than its gates, Naeriel had not the stomach to accept living among those who had sentenced Eöl to death. She chose imprisonment, although the cell was changed with a set of elegant quarters after several days at the request of Maeglin.

Still, a prison remains a prison, and for a century Naeriel was held in Gondolin until the city’s location was betrayed and the forces of Morgoth brought ruin upon it. In the heat of the battle the past was cast aside and Naeriel fought alongside the Noldor, keeping the children of Gondolin safe and guiding them down the secret passage. She remained with the other refugees from Gondolin for several days to recover from her wounds, but left as soon as possibly, embarking on a journey to return to Nan Elmoth. 

On her way back home, Naeriel came across a contingent of elves fleeing from Nan Elmoth. In horror she listened to the recount of the death of Thingol, the two sackings of Doriath and the several orc attacks that ravaged her home. The only blessing in their recount was the fact that her father was still alive and had led some of their people to a safe place at the Mouths of Sirion. Naeriel joined them and was reunited with her father after a century. She found herself living in a community where all had forgotten about their heritage, united only by grief and loss.

The following years passed rapidly, bringing even more grief in their wake. Naeriel was witness to the third Kinslaying and her hate of the Noldor grew even more. The dwellings of the elves were all destroyed by Morgoth. The last survivors of Beleriand fled to the Isle of Balar. The time for battle came when the Host of the Valar arrived in Beleriand. Naeriel and Camaenor took up arms and fought alongside the hosts of the Eldar, Dwarrows and Edain. The War of Wrath as it would later be called, brought down Morgoth’s reign, but also claimed the lives of many, including most of the former inhabitants of Nan Elmoth and even Camaenor himself.

Beleriand sunk under the waters… Many of the surviving elves chose to sail across the Sea into the West. Naeriel found herself alone, a refugee in Lindon.


	2. Second Age

The beginning of the Second Age found Naeriel in the newly founded Lindon. A mostly Noldorian kingdom, under the rule of Gil-Galad, Lindon seemed foreign to the former forge maiden of Nan Elmoth. Even though Harlindon was populated by Sindar and Laiquendi, Naeriel felt as if the city was pressing down on her. Most of her kin and her friends had perished either in the fall of Nan Elmoth or the War or Wrath. 

It was Oropher and Thranduil who offered her a way out of Lindon. Holding no love for the Noldor, nor wanting to be dominated by them, the two Sindar elves gathered what was left of their people from Doriath and set out of Lindon, wishing to move to one of the old Silvan communities. They were joined by some of the Laiquendi and most of the surviving population of Nan Elmoth. The resulting community moved to Eryn Galen and settled there. Oropher was chosen King by both Silvan and Sindar elves.

For a while, Naeriel went to Eregion and chose to endure the presence of the Noldor in exchange for the secrets of the dwarven smiths that lived in Khazad-dûm. She would later admit that she admired Celebrimbor for his dedication to his craft. When Eregion was attacked and brought to ruin, Naeriel fled back to Eryn Galen.

Until the War of the Last Alliance, they lived in relative peace. Only once were they forced to abandon Amon Lac and move north to the Black Mountains after Sauron’s return from the Downfall of Númenor.

When the summons for the Last Alliance came, Oropher led a host of elves alongside the host of Amdír, lord of Lórinand. Naeriel was part of the army and fought alongside Thranduil. She survived, when many others did not and returned to Eryn Galen with a broken spirit and a pained heart. The Third Age rolled by and wanderlust claimed her. In an effort to put some space between herself and her new home that was now tainted by the memory of loss she left Eryn Galen and started travelling.


	3. Third Age

Naeriel wandered aimlessly for the most part of the beginning of the Third Age. She returned to Khazad-dûm for a short while to exchange craft tales with the dwarven smiths once more. In the guise of a simple hunter, with a hood cloaking her elven heritage, she went to see the Kingdom of Gondor and Rohan, its neighbor. Years without count she allowed herself to become lost in the forest of Fangorn, even as the forest turned darker and darker around her and the ents lost all hope of ever finding their entwives. 

As the first millennium of the Third Age came and went, Naeriel forced herself to return home. However, as she neared Eryn Galen she came across the most peculiar sight: small people, with pointy ears and large, hairy feet. Curious of these creatures who laughed so freely and did not seem marred by sadness and loss, she approached them. While most ignored her or even fled at her sight, members of the Fallohides approached her with joy. It was from them she learned news of Eryn Galen, for the Fallohides were more open and had dealings with the elves. Indeed, they seemed to be the ones that spoke Westron most fluently. They were also skilled archers and some were even scribes. 

In the following two centuries she traveled frequently between Mirkwood and the hobbit settlement. She came to appreciate and admire this peculiar race for their zest of life, sharp wit and love for their family. In TA 1150, when they chose to follow their Harfoot relatives across the Misty Mountains she received leave from Thranduil to join them and act as their guide. They settled in Bree-land, Dunland, and the Angle formed by the rivers Mitheithel and Bruinen. Naeriel returned to Eryn Galen and would not see hobbits again for several centuries.

It was during the end of the second millennium of the Third Age that wanderlust caught up with her again. Curious to see what had become of the race she had been so fond of, she crossed the Misty Mountains and headed towards Enedwaith. All settlements she found there were abandoned. She continued her road towards Bree-land where she found that hobbits had settled in a new land called the Shire with leave of King Argeleb II.

The Shire was unlike anything she had ever seen. Rolling hills with burrows build inside them, calming, gentle forests that held no memory of death and blood. The Sun shone gently over the land and it seemed to her that the breeze itself carried the scent of the Sea. The community she found was not much changed. Different faces and less boundaries between the three races, but all merry and sun kissed, with rosy cheeks and wide smiles.

The Fallohides had mingled with their Stoor and Harfoot relatives, yet some still recalled the days of the past when the three races lived in the Valley of the Anduin. Naeriel was surprised to learn that children were fond of the tale of the elf maid who helped the hobbits cross the Misty Mountains. She was just as surprised to see the warm smiles on the faces of the elders when they realized she was the one in their tales. 

Naeriel remained with the hobbits for several decades until the call for arms made by King Eärnur came. The Battle of Fornost was about to begin. The elleth begged the head of the Fallohides not to send archers to battle. The hobbits had no chance of escaping the carnage that was sure to come. Still, a small contingent, eager for adventure chose to leave. Among them was Marco Fallohide, one of the direct descendants of the first Fallohides who had made her feel so welcome in their community. 

The Battle of Fornost ended with victory for Gondor and Lindon, but bitterness for Naeriel. Most of the hobbit archers were either killed or grievously wounded in battle. Marco Fallohide had died in her arms. They few that remained were scarred both physically and mentally. With the Kingdom of Arnor destroyed they no longer answered to any king. They returned to the Shire and tried to put their lives back together.

Unknown to them, Naeriel asked that any mention of hobbits be removed from the historical recollection of the Battle. She asked that they be left in peace and allow history to forget them, for it was clear hobbits were meant for their sun kissed lands and rolling hills, not for battle. She returned with them and was given the name Cypress, meaning mourning in the language of flowers for she was as riddled with grief as the surviving hobbits. 

It took Naeriel another few decades to return back home to Eryn Galen. Greenwood the Great had become Mirkwood, and home was more of a prison than a sanctuary. Every few centuries she returned to the Shire in order to ease her weary heart and find joy in the simplest of things. Hobbits were no longer amazed to see her, for tales of Cypress, the elf maiden who had claimed the Shire as a second home were passed from parents to children. 

At the time when Thorin Oakenshield’s Company was captured and taken to Thranduil she was out on patrol at the borders of Mirkwood. Naeriel was most annoyed to have missed the whole debacle. However, she was there later, at the Battle of the Five Armies. 

When the call for the Council of Elrond came, despite her protests she was forced to travel with Legolas and attend the Council. A fight sparked between herself and Glorfindel, based on the bitter past they shared. However, Naeriel was able to meet the fabled Bilbo Baggins and his kin once more. It was as if she had been able to return to the Shire. To her immense pleasure, Bilbo admitted his mother had told him stories about Cypress of the Shire.

Naeriel returned to Mirkwood and fought in the Battle under the Trees at the end of the Third Age. She survived, but was gravely wounded and spent many days unconscious, between life and death. When Legolas returned to Mirkwood with news of his quest and shared his desire to establish an elf colony in Ithilien, Naeriel left with him. Eventually, she joined him West after much cajoling on Legolas’ side and teasing on Gimli’s. For after all who would have heard of a dwarf sailing West when an elf dared not.


End file.
